… with a dash of Boop-oop-ee-doop!

The Play That Goes Wrong in Tampa

When I was in NYC last fall, one of the Broadway shows my husband wanted to see was “The Play that Goes Wrong.” We never made it to that show – and he was excited to see it was going to be right next door this fall at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa. In fact, it kicks off their Broadway 2018-19 season this week! Thanks to my relationship with the Tampa Bay Bloggers I was able to receive 2 tickets for us to watch the show in exchange for my honest review.

I read this show would be hilarious. And not just from critics, but from J. J. Abrams. While shooting “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” in London, he went to see “The Play that Goes Wrong” and enjoyed laughing at it so much that he told their creative team he would help bring the show to the USA. He became the producer, and one night on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” he surprised the whole audience with tickets to the show – about 400 people walked from the Colbert show through Times Square to this play.

Note I said play. It is not a musical. It is a silly, funny play. Funny like Jack Tripper on “Three’s Company” tripping over the sofa and falling into a somersault on the living room floor. Kind of slapstick, lots of comedic timing, nothing you need to think too hard about.

The silliness begins from the moment you get your program. Because the show is about a theatre group performing a play (yes, it’s a play within a play) the program reads like their theatre company’s program snuck in the middle of the Straz Center’s program.

You’ll want to arrive early to read some of that, and to see members of the cast doing silly things in the middle of the audience.

“The Play that Goes Wrong” has a 1920s whodunit and a love story and tons of goofiness. Everything that could possibly go wrong with a stage production goes wrong. And I mean everything. Things break, people fall, fires start, costumes go inside out, props get mixed up… EVERYTHING!

I recommend sitting back, relaxing, and turning your mind off so you can spend a couple hours just being entertained. Hopefully you’ll LOL and if you’re lucky you’ll ROTFLYFAO. It couldn’t be too bad – after all, it’s the longest-running play currently on Broadway!! (Closing Jan 6, 2019.)

“The Play That Goes Wrong” is in Tampa, Florida, through October 21, 2018. Just six more shows! The Thursday, October 18, 7:30pm performance will be sign language interpreted. Get tickets here.

Also at Straz in the Shimberg Playhouse is “Edgar & Emily.” This much more intense drama features two talented actors on one set for 90 minutes. In the show, Edgar Allan Poe visits Emily Dickinson 15 years or so after his death, and they discuss writing and each others’ neuroses.